Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Hughes' Struggles Continue: Yanks Fall to Tigers


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
R H E
Detroit 2 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0
6 11 1
N.Y. Yankees 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
4 8 0

The Yankees fell to 14-14 on the year with a 6-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers last night at Yankee Stadium. Phil Hughes got the start and did not pitch well. Like his previous starts he walked too many hitters and more importantly fell behind too many hitters. He gave up two homers, one to Curtis Granderson, and one to former Yankee Gary Sheffield. Whenever Hughes fell behind he got in trouble, which seems to be the story of his season so far. In only 3.2 innings Hughes allowed 6 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks, while striking out 2.

This does not excuse Hughes' poor performance but I think starting Chris Stewart behind the plate with Hughes on the mound was a mistake. When a guy who is struggling like Hughes is I feel Jose Molina, the veteran, should be behind the plate. And as Peter Abraham points out he's had 4 different catchers in 6 starts. I'm not a fan of personal catchers, but the guy behind the plate should know the pitcher he's catching, especially when that pitcher is a struggling 21 year old.

The bright spot of the game was Ross Ohlendorf. I criticized him after his last outing, even suggesting it might be time for a trip to Scranton, but he certainly shut me up with his performance last night. In 3.1 innings he allowed no runs on 1 hit and a walk, and struck out 5.

The rest of the Yankees bullpen was also good, Edwar Ramirez and Latroy Hawkins both pitched scoreless innings.


IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Hughes (L, 0-4) 3.2 8 6 6 3 2 2 9.00
Ohlendorf 3.1 1 0 0 1 5 0 5.40
Ramirez 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0.00
Hawkins 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 7.98

TIGERS PITCHING

The Yankees first two runs came off the bat of the struggling Robinson Cano who hit a 2-run homer off Tigers' starter Kenny Rogers in the 2nd. A good sign for Cano who has been terrible so far this year.

They did not score again until the 8th when Derek Jeter was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to drive in a run. Bobby Abreu then came up as the go ahead run but grounded out to end the threat.

The Yanks added one more in the 9th on an RBI single for Jason Giambi which drove in Hideki Matsui who had previously singled and moved to 2nd on a wild pitch. But that was all they would get as Morgan Ensberg grounded out and Robinson Cano struck out to end the game.

The only Yankee with a multi-hit game was Hideki Matsui who went 2-for-4. The struggles with men on base continued as they left 13 men on, and 6 in scoring position.


AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Damon, CF-LF 4 0 1 0 1 2 0 .274
Jeter, SS 4 0 1 1 0 1 1 .278
Abreu, RF 5 0 1 0 0 1 4 .276
Molina, C 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .245
Matsui, LF-RF 4 1 2 0 1 0 0 .326
Giambi, DH 4 0 1 1 1 0 3 .171
Duncan, S, 1B 2 2 1 0 3 0 1 .154
Ensberg, 3B 4 0 0 0 1 0 4 .233
Cano, 2B 5 1 1 2 0 2 5 .155
Stewart, C 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000
a-Cabrera, PH-CF 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .289
Totals 35 4 8 4 8 7 18

a-Walked for Stewart in the 8th.

BATTING
2B: Duncan, S (1, Rogers).
HR: Cano (2, 2nd inning off Rogers, 1 on, 1 out).
TB: Damon; Jeter; Abreu; Matsui 2; Giambi; Duncan, S 2; Cano 4.
RBI: Cano 2 (7), Jeter (14), Giambi (12).
2-out RBI: Jeter.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Giambi 2; Cano 3; Ensberg; Abreu 2.
Team LOB: 13.

TIGERS HITTING

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Curtis Granderson 2-for-3, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 BB, 3 R

HONORABLE MENTION: Ross Ohlendorf (3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K)

The Yanks look to even the series with Andy Pettitte on the mound, and Jeremy Bonderman gets the start for the Tigers. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m., and the game can be seen on YES and heard on WCBS 880.

2 Comments:

Jeff said...

Glad to see Ross bouncing back after the last few rough outings. This guy was a steal in that Randy Johnson deal. Strong work from all the relievers. Let's keep our fingers crossed that Ramirez continues to pitch well and can stick around for a while.

Stewart was ugly. Hopefully the Yanks can get Moeller back soon to help Molina out.

Greg Cohen said...

Yea Ohlendorf was great last night.

The thing that impressed me with Ramirez was he actually got a couple swings and misses on his fastball, which is great to see.

Stewart looked lost all night, at the plate, and behind it. I kinda felt bad for him after awhile.

The waiver period is 72 hours, so we'll know about Moeller tomorrow.